Despite budget cuts to education over the years, the Sierra Sands Unified School District has its eye on revitalizing part of its infrastructure, according to Burroughs High's assistant principal.

"We have this incredible opportunity to modernize Burroughs High School and build an entirely new site – Murray Middle School," Bryan Auld told the Ridgecrest Exchange Club on Thursday.

Auld provided an overview of the construction project for the two SSUSD schools, including a grant awarded by the Defense Department's Office of Economic Adjustment. The $57-million grant was announced in Dec. 2012, with partially matching funding put forth by the school district.

The two schools are on Navy property, Auld said, which was why they qualified for the grants.

"Burroughs and Murray were in such a shape that they qualified to receive federal funding," Auld said. Murray Middle School was fourth on the list of schools and Burroughs was No. 10.

The criteria was based in part on the year the facilities were built, with Murray built in 1945 and the core of Burroughs in 1958, Auld said.

"The plan is to build a new middle school right across from Burroughs," Auld told the Exchange Club.

Auld said geological studies had already been conducted, with one fault located in the vicinity. However, it is not in a place where any structure would be located.

He said initial plans were tentative until everything was approved.

"Things are tentative in the world of education and until you see a shovel turning dirt, nothing is final," Auld said. He said based on current projections, the first signs of construction would begin in early 2014.

SSUSD recently approved the architect for the project.

"For anyone who has general knowledge of construction or general contracting, school construction is painful," Auld said.

He said the construction process would have to go through the California Department of State Architect, which would include inspectors and rigid construction criteria.

Burroughs would receive a modernization of all its most aged facilities, including cafeteria and administrative building. Parts of the sports facilities would receive an upgrade as well in regard to the restrooms and concession stands.

The new designs would be more accessible per the Americans with Disabilities Act, Auld said.

"The moment you do something structural, it has to be ADA compliant," Auld said. However, the District already has a design plan in place in regard for those structures.

The district also had to do a historical analysis to determine if any of Burroughs' buildings qualified as a historical site, which would limit the impact of modernization. Auld said the analysis came up with nothing that would impact construction plans.

With Murray, it would be a new site from the ground up, but the district would have to watch its dollars when designing and building the new facility.

Page 2 of 2 - "To build a new school from the ground up with all the bells and whistles would cost $60-$70 million," Auld said.

Both projects would include "workforce protection" measures that would include higher-set windows and set parking lots further away from the buildings per federal guidelines.

Auld said the overall project, as with any school construction projects had to be approached diligently, especially where the Measure A money that funded other district projects.

"You have to watch out for the district's interests," Auld said.

Exchange Club President Andy Anderson asked whether the money would include funding for a pool, especially in light of Sgt. Pinney Pool's uncertain future.

The school district leases Pinney Pool for its aquatic programs, including a top swimming team.

Auld said that a pool was not in the cards as it was a financial downfall.

"We're noticing a lot of schools are actually getting rid of their swimming programs because they cannot afford to keep their pool," Auld said. "There are places where they are doing modernization, started digging a hole for a pool and then filled it up with dirt."

He said however, the district was very interested in watching what happened with Pinney Pool because it would affect the Burroughs swimming program.

Auld overall said that there were challenges to the project but were ones the district were tackling.

"It's really exciting to have this infusion of money but at the same time it has its challenges," he said. "You have to be proactive and be able to predict well in advance what your challenges will be. The leadership at the district level are all talking about that and trying to predict a plan of attack."

(Update: This corrects the print version to reflect that Burroughs was built in 1958, not 1957, that the Exchange Club met on Thursday, not Friday, and to make actual reference to the Department of the State Architect.)